Moneymaker forced to close Kentucky poker room

The 2003 WSOP Main Event champion.

If you know poker, you know the influence that Chris Moneymaker has on the game especially with his incredible run to win the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event.

To this day, his name is still in headlines in the poker world, but unfortunately this week’s news surrounding Moneymaker is not positive.

After opening his Moneymaker Social Club in Kentucky six months ago, local authorities are shutting down the poker room with charges of illegal gambling being attached to his name, according to a PokerNews.com report on Wednesday. When the poker room opened, it was originally given permission to run as it has been since September; however, a new McCracken County attorney Cade Foster, who took office in November, has changed sides on that and is demanding these operations cease.

This doesn’t mean that this venue will close altogether while this gets sorted out. Moneymaker plans on just removing the poker tables and continuing to run the place as a social club with pool tables.
The Hall of Fame poker player also said just a few months ago that the Moneymaker Social Club was applying for a liquor license, which seemed to trigger the events of the social club being looked at for the “illegal activity.” Th liquor license was also denied in the process.

"We had grumblings last week that the (district attorney) was going to press charges and it could have gotten myself and some of my staff in trouble potentially," Moneymaker explained to PokerNews in an upcoming episode of the PokerNews Podcast. "So, on the err of caution, we decided to shut it down."

The poker play wasn’t immediately shut down though, as the club was in the middle of $50,000 guaranteed tournament that was allowed finish.

Had Moneymaker not closed the poker portion of business, then he would have been subjected to criminal charges as it’s illegal in Kentucky.

With plans to remain open as solely a social club, Moneymaker does understand it could be difficult to remain open for a long time without his main source of revenue and without the ability to serve liquor, but he wants to continue to have his employees with jobs at the club.